April 11, 2007
Lightroom frustration
Lightroom doesn't quite hit the target as a DAM yet. And it isn't quite as useful as Photoshop/Camera Raw for RAW processing. I'm on record as being somewhat skeptical about the principal LR enthusiasts, as they almost all have a vested interest (books, DVDs) etc, and I find it unlikely...
Posted by davidrm at 4:33 PM
January 31, 2007
Dancing about architecture
Following on my recent posts about Flickr, and reading some of the comments generated on other blogs, I noticed a strange thing. There are quite a few erudite photography blogs out there, with excellent photography and informed, intelligent discussion - Colin Jago's photostream just to name one. However, the gender...January 26, 2007
FLICKRing interest
As you explore photo sharing sites such as Flickr (and probably Smugmug, PBase, etc etc) it is interesting to observe the pattern of comments on posted photos. It is a cliché that all comments on these sites don't venture far from "kool capture thanx for posting", and whilst the overwhelming...January 11, 2007
Sound & Vision
I suppose I'm not the only one in the world who makes a connection between music and photography, but I've recently become aware that there is for me at least a very strong correlation. This is particularly evident in my interactions with Flickr, which are approaching addict level. For example,...
Posted by davidrm at 12:39 PM
January 10, 2007
Gallery Update
New photos added to galleries on Wednesday, January 10, 2007 1:03:53 PM: San Salvadore added to Lugano Gallery Sunset over the lake added to Lugano Gallery Moonwater added to Lugano Gallery Also available on Flickr...January 5, 2007
Carl Zeiss Helsinki
I've just started to use a Nokia N73 (amongst others) for testing things at work, and I decided to try out the camera. I'm very impressed. The photo below (posted directly to Flickr using the Nokia's built-in software) was taken a few minutes ago in downtown Lugano... I don't think...January 4, 2007
Wisdom of crowds ?
A book I'm currently reading (by Alain Briot) recommends an exercise where you create a set of photos, rate them yourself, and then ask other people to rate them. He says you should be prepared to be surprised by the results. Well, although Briot intends that prints should be used,...
Posted by davidrm at 11:43 AM
December 30, 2006
Gallery Update
New photos added to galleries on Saturday, December 30, 2006 2:35:39 PM: Riale d\'Efra waterfall added to Ticino Gallery Riale d\'Efra waterfall added to Ticino Gallery Riale d\'Efra waterfall added to Ticino Gallery Riale d\'Efra waterfall added to Ticino Gallery Riale d\'Efra waterfall added to Ticino Vald hamlet, upper Verzasca...December 20, 2006
Gallery Update
New photos added to galleries on Wednesday, December 20, 2006 5:26:39 PM: Blue bulge added to Ticino Gallery Trailing edge added to Ticino Gallery In the balance added to Ticino Gallery Wake added to Ticino Gallery Wings added to Ticino Gallery Lone Star added to Ticino Gallery...December 18, 2006
Antarctica Video
I recently put together a slideshow of my ancient Antartica archive. Since I needed to find something to put on YouTube, as an experiment, I decided to use this. I had to split it into two parts to meet YouTube's limitations, and obviously it isn't exactly HDTV... but whatever. Part...December 13, 2006
Gallery Update
New photos added to galleries on Wednesday, December 13, 2006 4:04:47 PM: Solvaglia Falls in a rainstorm added to Ticino gallery Heavy water, Sovaglia falls added to Ticino gallery Barred added to Lugano gallery Paradiso Plume added to Lugano gallery Sodium night, Paradiso added to Lugano gallery...December 6, 2006
Iceland 2007 Calendar
Following the vast success of my Iceland 2006 calendar, I have repeated the excercise this year, with a slightly longer print run. All landscapes this time. The principal purpose of this calendar is self-promotion, building up to a commercial distribution, hopefully next year. However, this year we are selling them...December 4, 2006
The calendar season
Just a quick note for anybody looking for suitable Christmas presents: two calendars have recently been published with photography by local (to me, anyway) photographer Alessandra Meniconzi. The first, "Silk Road", is a follow-on to her excellent book (and also highly recommended) of the same title. You can buy it...November 23, 2006
Practical Photography
Fountain Originally uploaded by snowhenge. Since my only spare time at the moment co-incides with darkness, for practical purposes if nothing else, I've decided to experiment a bit with nightime long exposures. This being totally experimental, I'm also combining it with another experiment, which is to use Flickr alongside...
Posted by davidrm at 12:58 PM
November 16, 2006
Arizona Hogwash
I'm sure this Arizona Highways article must be famous.... Some of the statements are beyond belief, and the total ignorance of the noise issue in film scanning is shameful. The writer waffles on about not comparing apples to oranges - clearly he couldn't even tell the difference between a banana...November 15, 2006
Ed Burtynsky video
There probably isn't a large crossover between the photography world, and those who follow the TED conference, which is a pity, because the video of Edward Burtynsky's talk (see below) is erudite and fascinating. Well worth the 94Mb download. 2005 TEDPrize winner Ed Burtynsky on TEDTalks: " Photographer Ed Burtynsky...November 4, 2006
Flying Blind
Whenever I talk about the merits of this or that camera, I rarely get very interested in the number of pixels, frame rate, or other detailed stuff. What I get hung up on are what I consider to be the basics, the aspects that makes a camera a device to...Shell Wildlife Photographer of the Year
Last week I visited the Shell BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year show in London (you can try the link, but the site seems to be almost always down - total incompetence). I've never been to any of these shows before, although I've obviously seen the books. I was struck...November 2, 2006
Gallery Update
New photo added to galleries on Thursday, November 2, 2006 7:00:23 PM: Misty mountains added to Ticino Just another pretty landscape, really. But I like it....October 23, 2006
Gallery Update
New photos added to galleries on Monday, October 23, 2006 10:43:25 PM: "Reach" added to Portugal collection "Last light" added to Portugal collection "Confrontation" added to Portugal collection "Tide" added to Portugal collection "Brealing surf" added to Portugal collection "Waves" added to Portugal collection "Big surf" added to Portugal collection...October 17, 2006
At last ...Gallery Update
Well, finally after moving house, and squeezing down my digital photo lab from a PowerMac G5 with Cinema Display to a relatively humble MacBook, getting the iView catalogs working properly again, fixing odds and ends in the AppleScript, and all the other stuff that goes together to make up my...October 9, 2006
Moonmadness
Over at DPReview, Bob Kaune attempted a joke.... The responses are pretty hilarious (unintentionally), especially the most earnest ones. Just goes to show how far removed from photography most contributors to these forums actually are. It also demonstrates that the ongoing difficulty people have with detecting irony on the internet...October 1, 2006
Home again
Well, I'm back in more than one way. Back from vacation. Back from house moving. Back on-line. Back in Ticino, and incidentally back in a job worth getting out of bed for in the morning. To celebrate, here is a picture from last week, taken at one of my favourite...September 1, 2006
Scattered areas of availability
For the next four weeks, service is going to be a bit limited here. First, I'm going to be travelling in Spain & Portugal for two weeks, then I will be moving house to Lugano. So, probably no photo uploads, and little if any blog activity. I'm sure the world...
Posted by davidrm at 5:52 PM
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August 21, 2006
Conflicting opinions
In the last couple of days, two widely conflicting opinions have been published on the Leica zoom lens which ships with the new Panasonic Lumix L1 camera. Vincent Luc, writing in Réponses Photo, is disappointed with it. Not that it is bad, but he finds that the sharpness and contrast...Gallery Update
New photos added to galleries on Monday, August 21, 2006 12:39:38 AM: "Inside the Athaneum" added to Romania "Progress" added to Romania "Fleeting sunlight" added to Swiss Alps "Lago di Segna" added to Swiss Alps "Lighting the way" added to Swiss Alps "Alpine stream, passo dell'Uomo" added to Swiss Alps...August 11, 2006
Web site updates
Over the past few weeks, I've made a considerable number of updates to this website. Most of it was behind the scenes, cleaning up and rationalising code, but I have introduced some visual updates. The photography main page now has less text and more photos. The text has been moved...August 3, 2006
A RAW Workflow
Since I have a received a good few questions about my workflow, particularly from Olympus E-1 owners, I though it was maybe time to write something about it. Note, I do all of my digital photography on Macs, so I'm afraid this workflow is Mac specific, or at least the...July 13, 2006
Gallery Update
New photos added to galleries on Thursday, July 13, 2006 12:42:23 AM: No vacancies added to Romania Inside the Athaneum added to Romania Strange grace added to Romania Closed for business added to Romania All from my first major session using Iridient RAW Developer: better results, and faster, than using...
Posted by davidrm at 12:45 AM
July 12, 2006
The Canary Project
I received a message yesterday about The Canary Project, a photo-based campaign trying to alert people to the realities of global warming. It seems a pretty admirable initiative to me. I strongly recommend you take a look. I'll let the message speak for itself: The Canary Project is an effort...
Posted by davidrm at 1:11 PM
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July 11, 2006
Bucharest 2006: a photo essay
Like any place in a state of transition, Romania is a fascinating place. On the verge of EU membership, still recovering from the ravages of a megalomaniac dictator, with almost vanished memories of a brief prosperity, and with reminders in the most unlikely places of turn of the (19th) century...July 10, 2006
Cartier Bresson in Romania
Sometime in the mid 1970s, I believe, Henri Cartier Bresson visited Romania. I've only ever found two photographs of this period, this one, of a couple sleeping on a CFR train, which was published in "De qui s'agit'il ?" - - and this one, of Bucovina, which I think is...July 3, 2006
Zuiko 8mm Fisheye for Landscape
For some time I've been meaning to write something here about using the Zuiko Digital 8mm Fisheye lens, specifically for landscape. This is the first true fisheye I've ever used. Many, many years ago, I used a fisheye adapter on Canon FD lenses, a combination which puts most Holga photos...June 27, 2006
Gallery Update
New photo added to galleries on Tuesday, June 27, 2006 11:11:23 PM: - Hurricane survivors added to the Miscellaneous collection. Just a token update, but interesting (in a techie way) because it is the first photo I've processed in Iridient RAW Developer for upload. I found that after mild DoG...
Posted by davidrm at 11:17 PM
June 6, 2006
Token Gallery Update
Not much action on the photography front recently, however... New photos added to galleries on Tuesday, June 6, 2006 11:41:13 PM: "Waterfall at Giessbach: detail" added to Swiss Alps "Waterfall at Giessbach: detail" added to Swiss Alps "Spring morning" added to Central Italy The Giessbach photos were taken when I...May 18, 2006
Gallery Update - Spring in Tuscany
New photos added on Thursday, May 18, 2006 10:20:34 PM: Mistery added to Central Italy First sunlight added to Central Italy Renaissance added to Central Italy Early morning light added to Central Italy Sunrise added to Central Italy Dawn at Casa Bolsinina added to Central Italy Dark sky added to...
Posted by davidrm at 10:28 PM
The Great Tetris Challenge
This is just a quick post, prompted by the release of Iridient RawDeveloper 1.5, and various writings over at the lair of the auspicious dragon... This is NOT a test. I try things out, but I don't test them. I rarely read the instructions properly, I am not methodic, and...March 21, 2006
Gallery Update 21 Mar 06
It's that time of year again... birds on the lake! New photos added to galleries on Tuesday, March 21, 2006 10:09:46 PM: Late winter sunset added to Swiss Wildlife Grebe on take-off added to Swiss Wildlife Great Crested Grebe pair added to Swiss Wildlife Red-crested pochard added to Swiss Wildlife...
Posted by davidrm at 10:13 PM
March 16, 2006
Gallery Update
New photos added to galleries on Thursday, March 16, 2006 11:14:28 PM: Krýsuvikur Church added to Iceland Landscape Moss covered lava added to Iceland Landscape Sólheimajökull from seat 35F added to Iceland Landscape The coastline around Vik from seat 35F added to Iceland Landscape...
Posted by davidrm at 11:17 PM
March 15, 2006
Gallery Update
25 New photos added to the Iceland Landscape gallery on Wednesday, March 15th, 2006 08:35:30 PM These were all taken during a brief visit to Iceland in winter... inevitably, the weather was completely unpredictable: warm (well, relatively speaking), sunny and no wind....
Posted by davidrm at 8:49 PM
February 27, 2006
Gallery Update
New photos added to galleries on Sunday, February 26, 2006 10:26:35 PM: Ice shelf rift added to Antarctica gallery Husky (sledge dog) added to Antarctica gallery Iceberg fragment added to Antarctica gallery Penguins taking a ride added to Antarctica gallery Nunataks added to Antarctica gallery Reflected peaks added to Antarctica...
Posted by davidrm at 12:25 AM
February 13, 2006
Antarctic rescanned
Many, many years ago I was lucky enough to be paid to go to Antarctica, twice in fact. With hindsight, it is a pity that I wasn't just a touch better at photography at the time (not to mention science, but that's another story). I took many, many photographs, with...
Posted by davidrm at 8:08 AM
January 26, 2006
More Lensbaby fun
Just an excuse to post a photo this time. This was taken last week in Samnauen, on a "no chance" skiing day. In to the trees... This was produced direct from CaptureOne, following Colin Jago's further experiments on sharpening. The Lensbaby is fun, but it is a right bug*er to...Calendar Publication
Following a very limited experiment last year, this year I decided (under much persuasion) to attempt to create a good quality calendar of Icelandic images, purely for family & friends. My first attempt was through Lulu. This is a US web-based self publication service which includes services for book printing...January 13, 2006
Panasonic Lumix LX1
It is two years since I last bought a new camera, and this state of affairs could not last. I had been thinking of buying a new digital compact for quite a while. My old Olympus C4040 still works fine, but it is slow, cumbersome and not really much fun...
Posted by davidrm at 4:11 PM
January 4, 2006
Revisiting the past
It seems appropriate that the New Year finds me revisiting the past. Triggered by the flood of Antarctic photos posted recently by Michael Reichmann and some of his co-travellers, I have had another attempt at salvaging something from my extensive slide collection from Antarctica which I took in 1988 and...
Posted by davidrm at 6:59 PM
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December 23, 2005
Lensbabies
I was pleased (and a little surprised) to recently discover that the Lensbaby "creative" lens is available for the FourThirds mount. I just had to try it. The idea of putting a bad-by-design lens on the front of an expensive DSLR is too appealing to pass up. Although, to be...
Posted by davidrm at 6:13 PM
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November 13, 2005
Zürich Zoo
Finally got around to visiting Zürich Zoo today. I'm not totally sure if I approve of zoos. The good ones do a very good conservation and education work, although it would be disingenuous to pretend that their main role is not entertainment. Zürich Zoo has good points and bad points...
Posted by davidrm at 10:45 PM
November 7, 2005
The Lower Engadine
A couple of weeks ago, we visited the Lower Engadine region of the canton Graubunden. One of the wildest and least developed parts of Switzerland, the area was recently in the news as the stamping ground of the first wild bear to be found in Swiss territory for over 100...
Posted by davidrm at 7:49 PM
November 5, 2005
Chasing icebergs in Iceland
(this article has been removed pending potential publication elsewhere)...
Posted by davidrm at 9:38 PM
October 9, 2005
A wet night in Zürich
Recently I was struck with the idea of photographing Zürich by night in the rain. Since, recently, most nights have been wet and miserable, this wasn't too rash an ambition. The area along Limmatquai (the Limmat is the main river which flows out of the lake) seemed to offer good...
Posted by davidrm at 10:06 PM
May 19, 2005
Time of no photography
I haven't written anything here in the last two months basically because I have done practically no photography, and apart from trying to catch up on reading - slowly - Alain Briot's excellent Aesthetics and Photography series (buy the CD!) I haven't really done anything even related. The demands of...
Posted by davidrm at 11:51 AM